The poetry and the poetic plays of Dane Zajc brought a significant change into Slovene literature after World War II. Together with Gregor Strnisa and Veno Taufer, at the end of the 1950s Zajc opted for poetry whose goal is not a sentimental or idealized picture of the world and man in it but a search for the deeper meanings of events and experiences and an attempt to understand the world as it is, without the help of ideological, philosophical, or religious principles. When the first books of these three poets were published, the critics characterized them as belonging to the "critical generation" of poets. Even later they were frequently spoken of as belonging to the same generation, even though each one developed his own distinctive voice and vision. All three are among the most important poets in modern Slovenian poetry.

Dane Zajc was born on 26 October 1929 in...